Russell Jones
Sustainability Problems
Film Annotation VII
The Corporation, directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbot and released in 2004 argues that the legal obligations of corporations are not stringent enough when discussing environment and treatment of foreign populations. The film highlights the sustainability problems of irresponsible destruction of natural environments and resources for profit, and the use of cheap foreign labor for the production of goods.
The most persuasive point of the film is the segment about Bolivia’s water supply system. When the Bolivian government sold its public water supply to corporate water supplier who drove up the costs of water it led to a bloody rebellion against the government. The imaginary and explanation gave a shocking example as to the power that corporations can have across the world and the harm that they can cause to different people and environments.
The least persuasive part of the film was the story involving the whistle-blowing case and the Fox-News network. Although it highlights the power of corporations in media, it is not as compelling as the images of the cows in garbage dumps as well as the birth of the IBM computer company. The film compels views to seek out more information about corporate law and how the issues of liability could be reverted in order to influence corporations to behave in manners that would not environment and third world peoples. The film is best for high school students as it can help to instill the need for corporate law change when students are deciding career paths. In this respect, it is also a good film for beginning college students, who feel the need for changes in corporate law.
The film suggests intervention by the government by tightening up the strictness of corporate law so that liability does not be applied to corporations as a person but onto persons within a corporation. The film was education with its history of the corporation however it could have been more education if its case examples were shorter and it delved more into our government’s legislation as a stakeholder and how it can change corporate law in order to keep corporations from having too much power.
Sustainability Problems
Film Annotation VII